Inhuman practices such as kidnapping, rape and physical torture are being used by radical Islamist groups in Pakistan to forcibly convert Hindu, Sikh and Christian girls to Islam. These groups operate mostly unhindered in the countryside of Sindh, targeting girls from these minority communities. In many cases, the beauty of the girls proves to be a bane, which can make them more likely to be hunted down and kidnapped.
“There could be hundreds of women belonging to the Christian, Hindu, and other religious minorities, who have been kidnapped under a country-wide campaign by influential Muslim clerics to forcibly convert the religion of these women to Islam against their wishes,’’ human rights activist and lawyer Luke Victor says.
Victor, who is handling several cases on behalf of such kidnapped girls in various courts, says that his organisation has provided shelter to nine such teenage girls, all minors. Seven of these girls, whose cases he is pursuing in different courts and trying to prove charges against their kidnappers, are Christian, one is a Hindu and one a Sikh, according to The Friday Times.
Recounting the story of such a Christian girl, Muskan, Victor says that she was kidnapped by a Muslim man named Arsalan Khaskheli from her house in Badin district on March 11 last year. Before her kidnapping, Arsalan stalked the young girl for many days. “For days, Arsalan kept chasing me on my way from and to school. Then one day, he, along with some others, kidnapped me, blindfolded me, and drove away in a car,” Muskan told the police.
“The accused, Arsalan Khaskheli subjected me to rape the very same day. As I begged him not to do this, he took out a gun and threatened to kill my brothers and parents,” she told the Tando Ghulam Ali police. At the tender age of 16, this teenage victim had to go through this hellish experience and sexual exploitation for over nine months till she escaped in mid-December last year.
Muskan is just one of the countless victims of such forced conversions that happen around the year. Incidentally, such cases largely go unreported. She was one of those fortunate ones who managed to escape from her kidnapper’s custody on December 15, 2024, over nine months later. She has told the police that her kidnapper, Arsalan, forcibly converted her to Islam at gunpoint and through several beatings.
“Arsalan tortured me and asked me to make a false statement before a Muslim cleric that I am 19 years old. Also that I have converted my religion to Islam of my own choice and I want to marry him willingly,” she said. “However, I told the Moulvi (cleric) clearly that I am 16. I am Christian and will remain a Christian only as I do not want to forsake my religion. I also told the Moulvi (cleric) that neither I want to embrace Islam as my new religion nor I want to marry Arsalan”, she said.
“Despite these clear answers, the Moulvi (cleric) forcibly took my thumb impression and signatures on the certificates of conversion of religion and marriage”, she said, adding she was given the name of Fatima after this ordeal. Explaining things further, Muskan said the Moulvi seemed complicit in all this forced conversion. Others who helped rapist and kidnapper Arsalan were his mother Azizah, his maternal grandfather Muhammad Hasan, maternal uncle Inayat, and Jameel, a cousin of Khaskheli.
To give legal cover to rape, kidnapping and torture, Arsalan then took Muskan to a local court. Here, too, she was once again forced to make another false statement under extreme duress as she was threatened that his family would be killed.
“Before taking me to the court, Khaskheli and others threatened to kill my brothers and parents if I did not tell the judge that I am 19 years old. I was also forced to say that I had converted to Islam on my own and had married Khaskheli of my own free choice,’’ she said before the police.
Advocate Victor says a Umerkot-based cleric, Ayub Jan Sarhandi, is directly involved in the incident of kidnapping and forced conversion of Muskan, like numerous other incidents reported from that region of Sindh province.
“We have credible information that Moulana Ayub Jan Sarhandi has patronised illegal forced conversion and underage marriage of my clients’ daughter,” Victor told a court, adding that this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Victor also named the chief of the Barchundi Sharif shrine, Moulana Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithu (in Ghotki), for spearheading such campaigns aimed at kidnappings and forced conversions of young girls and women of the Hindu, Christian and other religious minorities.
In 2022, the British government banned the cleric Moulana Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithu from entering the UK because of his involvement in forced marriages and forced conversion of people, including minors, from the Hindu religious minority in Sindh.
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